Rome vs Elizabethtown

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Elizabethtown is 0.5% more expensive than Rome.

0.5% more expensive

Elizabethtown, KY is 0.5% more expensive than Rome, GA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.6 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Rome buys about the same as $100,456 in Elizabethtown; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 90.2 (Rome) vs 90.6 (Elizabethtown)
  • $100k in Rome ≈ $100,456 purchasing power in Elizabethtown
  • Services drives the gap (-16.1 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair GA:KY 90.2→90.6

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE GA × KY
  • SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
  • BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
  • PP-PAR PP near-par

Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.

Rome
90.2
Cost Index
Elizabethtown
90.6
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Rome, GA and Elizabethtown, KY are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Elizabethtown is 16.1 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.

Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.

Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.

For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Rome to $100,456 in Elizabethtown, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Rome
90.2
Elizabethtown
90.6
Goods
Rome
96.3
Elizabethtown
96.2
Services
Rome
90.7
Elizabethtown
74.6
Rents
Rome
60.3
Elizabethtown
66.7

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Rome would need to be in Elizabethtown for the same purchasing power:

In Rome In Elizabethtown Difference
$50,000 $50,228 +$228
$75,000 $75,342 +$342
$100,000 $100,456 +$456
$150,000 $150,684 +$684
$ in Rome = in Elizabethtown

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 90.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Elizabethtown more expensive than Rome?

Elizabethtown is 0.5% more expensive than Rome. The overall cost index is 90.6 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Elizabethtown equals $100K in Rome?

A $100,000 salary in Rome has the same purchasing power as $100,456 in Elizabethtown. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Rome and Elizabethtown?

Rents in Rome are indexed at 60.3 while Elizabethtown is at 66.7 (national average = 100). Elizabethtown has higher rents.

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.